But if that's what they did, it's going to piss a whole lot of people off and they had to know that going in. It's not the kind of "twist" ending that leaves people thrilled, but rather the kind that leaves them disappointed and confused as to why the writers would do something so lame. [e.g., Bane being Talia's lackey in TDKR.]

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

Only because Talia was awful and did nothing. If they develop Killian as a total badass and build the film around him, instead of shoehorning him in, then it'll work quite nicely

And I don't think it means Mandarin can't be interesting and well characterized on his own terms. But it's definitely not the Mandarin people were expecting.

If the spoiler is true, I will owe one particular poster an apology, because they totally called it.

Still, I'm not a fan of it at all on the surface. I'll wait to see how it actually plays out in the movie, but the concept itself is pretty lame.

Apology accepted.

I've never considered the concept lame, though, because

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

I believe AIM is going to play a much larger role in the Phase II movies. Mandarin and his Ten Rings organization were intended to just provide a backdrop enemy group for the Iron Man "trilogy," so it was unlikely that Ben Kingsley was hired for more than one film. Remember, MCU Iron Man has a lethal tendency to kill off his villains, except for Justin Hammer. AIM, on the other hand, will likely show up again in Cap's movie, maybe even Thor TDW during the Midgard sequences, and possibly might even play a role in TA2.

But if that's what they did, it's going to piss a whole lot of people off and they had to know that going in. It's not the kind of "twist" ending that leaves people thrilled, but rather the kind that leaves them disappointed and confused as to why the writers would do something so lame. [e.g., Bane being Talia's lackey in TDKR.]

lmao! Nah, it's more like John Blake IMO, because people wanted to see Robin so they gave Robin John Blake. Now in IM people wanted to see the Mandarin so we got him but not the main villain.

I believe AIM is going to play a much larger role in the Phase II movies. Mandarin and his Ten Rings organization were intended to just provide a backdrop enemy group for the Iron Man "trilogy," so it was unlikely that Ben Kingsley was hired for more than one film. Remember, MCU Iron Man has a lethal tendency to kill off his villains, except for Justin Hammer. AIM, on the other hand, will likely show up again in Cap's movie, maybe even Thor TDW during the Midgard sequences, and possibly might even play a role in TA2.

Don't get cocky! You also said Thor:TDW was about Ego, the living planet.

I believe AIM is going to play a much larger role in the Phase II movies. Mandarin and his Ten Rings organization were intended to just provide a backdrop enemy group for the Iron Man "trilogy," so it was unlikely that Ben Kingsley was hired for more than one film. Remember, MCU Iron Man has a lethal tendency to kill off his villains, except for Justin Hammer. AIM, on the other hand, will likely show up again in Cap's movie, maybe even Thor TDW during the Midgard sequences, and possibly might even play a role in TA2.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

maybe mandarin is still the main villain but they are baking up killian's role to establish AIM in phase 2

but they seems to be shoehorning Mandarin right now if the said spoiler is true...

How so?

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

He's the leader of the ten rings organization, he's got his followers, he has the full attention of the US Government (and Tony, for at least the first half of the movie, probably more). Just because it turns out Killian is behind all of the Extremis stuff and the actual big bad doesn't mean Mandarin won't have stuff to do. Just not super powered ring stuff

IF THIS IS TRUE (<==big IF), then this is a super spoiler. Consider yourself warned.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

Last chance...

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

This is what I got from Chewy, who I think got it from the boxoffice.com site: For a while now we've known that Mandarin's rings aren't alien, and don't have any powers. Black and Feige and co have described him as this ex-military guy who went a nuts along the way, is obsessed with Sun Tzu, and crafted the Mandarin persona. So the question we've all been asking is: If Ben Kingsley's Mandarin is the villain of the movie, and he doesn't have any powers, how do you stage a big third act with a bunch of suits of armor around that?

And the answer is apparent that he isn't, and you don't. Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian is the villain, was from the beginning. He uses the Mandarin as his mouthpiece/symbol/distraction, and Mandarin dies during the movie.

So that's the spoiler, and it makes sense with what we know - Killian funnels out the Extremis soldiers, and the third act will presumably be Tony and Rhodey and all those suits versus Killian and his soldiers in that warehouse. And you can have a third act that involves the big villain in the big fight, as Killian will presumably inject himself with it too.

The spoiler info is not that surprising to me. But I think there will be a third villain revealed, and if you've read the Extremis comic, you should know who I am talking about.

__________________There was an idea, to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if we could become something more, so when they needed us, we could fight the battles, that they never could.

He's the leader of the ten rings organization, he's got his followers, he has the full attention of the US Government (and Tony, for at least the first half of the movie, probably more). Just because it turns out Killian is behind all of the Extremis stuff and the actual big bad doesn't mean Mandarin won't have stuff to do. Just not super powered ring stuff

Exactly.

However, here's the thing.

The rumor with twist says that

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

Killian is the main villain, and Mandarin is not,

where as the second and, yet to be debunked, /co/ rumor indicates

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

That Mandarin is the main villain. However, as far as Extremis is concerned, Killian is the big threat.